This marks U.S. Pacific Command’s first operational tasking for the F-35A and builds upon the U.S. Air Force fifth-generation stealth fighter’s successful debut in the Indo-Asia-Pacific at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition earlier this month. “The F-35A gives the joint warfighter unprecedented global precision attack capability against current and emerging threats while complementing our air superiority fleet,” said Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander. “The airframe is ideally suited to meet our command’s obligations, and we look forward to integrating it into our training and operations.” The F-35A is being deployed under USPACOM’s theater security package program, which has been in operation since 2004. This long-planned deployment is designed to demonstrate the continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the region. While a first in-theater for the F-35A, the Marine Corps F-35B variant has been stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan since January 2017.

U.S. Air Force's F-35A Lightning II scheduled for first operational deployment to Indo-Asia-Pacific

By Staff Sgt. Jack Sanders, Pacific Air Forces Public AffairsPublished November 02, 2017

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii --

1 of 10U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. David Moore, an F-35A Lightning II pilot from the 34th Fighter Squadron, climbs out of the cockpit after a flight from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Oct. 30, 2017.

neptune wrote:1 of 10U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. David Moore, an F-35A Lightning II pilot from the 34th Fighter Squadron, climbs out of the cockpit after a flight from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Oct. 30, 2017.

18th Wing Public Affairs Twelve U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs and approximately 300 Airmen from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, arrived here for the aircraft’s first operational deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region Nov. 2. This is the first time the F-35s have deployed as part of a planned U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Package. Two of the twelve aircraft, as well as many of the Airmen supporting the deployment, arrived Oct. 30 after participating in the Seoul Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2017. The deployment provides the region with the most advanced fifth-generation fighter, capable of a variety of operations including access to the global commons, active defense and power projection. “The F-35A gives the joint warfighter unprecedented global precision attack capability against current and emerging threats while complementing our air superiority fleet,” said Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander. “The airframe is ideally suited to meet our command’s obligations, and we look forward to integrating it into our training and operations.”

The F-35s deployment offers unique opportunities to integrate various forces into joint, coalition and bilateral training across many different environments. The TSP program – which began in 2004 – is designed to routinely showcase the continuous commitment of the United States to stability and security within the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by deploying aircraft, personnel and equipment that bolster existing U.S. forces. Theater Security Package deployments are conducted on a rotational basis by Air Force fighter or bomber squadrons and can vary depending on mission and the combatant commander’s requirements. Theater Security Package deployments enhance the strength of alliances without the need to build vast infrastructure.

"...The U.S. Air Force said the jet made a “precautionary landing” at the U.S. Kadena Air Base. But the Kadena Municipal Government said it was an “emergency landing,” citing an observation by one of its officials who saw two fire trucks on standby on either side of the runway when the landing was made.... [GET OVER IT FOR Fsake!]

...The U.S. Air Force said it was a minor incident and “there was no appreciable risk of injury or property damage.”..."

"KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) -- Five weeks into the first F-35A Pacific Theater Security Package deployment, the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit team is at full stride....

...From a maintenance perspective, the results are remarkable. The jet can fly seven hours from Utah to Hawaii and then 10-plus hours to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, without a single maintenance incident, and then continue to perform exceptionally during training missions throughout the Pacific Theater.

“The jets performed perfectly and all landed code 1 (no flight-limiting conditions),” said Master Sgt. Brian Sarafin, F-35A production superintendent for the 34th AMU. “We have gotten off to a great start and have continued through the early part of this deployment.”

Sarafin said he isn’t surprised the maintenance record is so good because the plane is strong and the people working on it are skilled. He also commended the Airmen of Kadena AB’s host 18th Wing for their support.

“We have already proven the F-35s are reliable,” Sarafin said. “We fly like crazy back home and we get good numbers all the time. But to get zero maintenance non-deliveries to start out the TSP, after moving 12 aircraft across the world and more than 300 people across the world is impressive. It’s mostly due to the hard work that all the people have been putting in around here.”

Keeping planes in the skies over subtropical Okinawa can be a little different than flying over the Utah desert. Merritt said they’re becoming accustomed to dealing with salt water’s corrosive properties. “In Utah, we don’t fly over oceans with salt water corrosion,” she explained. “But coming here with the 5th gen platform flying over salt water constantly, our pilots have to run through the ‘bird bath’ every day.”

The bird bath is a giant sprinkler that pilots drive through as they taxi back to their parking spot. It engulfs the entire aircraft with clear water to rinse off salt the aircraft was exposed to while flying over the ocean.

When something does need repair on the F-35A during this deployment, Sarafin said they can fix it promptly. “We’ve been able to fix the things that have broken, because we have the parts for it and we fixed it the same day,” he said. “As long as we have the parts, we can fix this jet quick. That is a testament to our maintenance capability, and the ease of maintenance on the F-35.”..."

Reporting from Kadena Air BaseHow is the F-35 improving its dogfighting skills in Japan?By: Valerie Insinna 3 hours ago

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan, and WASHINGTON —The F-35 has caught flack for what critics decry as lack of dogfighting prowess, a reputation that has followed the Joint Strike Fighter for years.

But in the skies above Kadena Air Base in Japan, F-35 operators are getting the chance to prove those detractors wrong.

In October, more than 300 airmen and 12 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, arrived in Japan, marking the Air Force’s first-ever F-35 deployment to the Asia-Pacific region. Since then, pilots have focused primarily on the air-to-air fight — a rarity for the F-35, a stealthy fifth-generation jet that is more known for its air-to-ground capability.

Kadena’s location on the island of Okinawa, a small 466-square-mile plot of land surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, offers a prime location for F-35 operators to practice aerial combat, said Capt. Ryan Fantasia, an F-35A pilot with the 34th Fighter Squadron.

“The airspaces are all over the water, so it’s a lot harder to look down and see the ground or anything like that. Plus, the Eagles are here,” he said, referring to the two F-15C/D Eagle fighter jet squadrons based at Kadena.

F-35A pilots train with F-15C/Ds anywhere from a couple times a month to a couple days a week, Fantasia told Defense News in February. Sometimes those exercises include Eagles from the 44th and 67th fighter squadrons at Kadena; while other days, F-35 pilots mix it up with F-15s from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

“It’s a blast. I really, really enjoy it,” said Fantasia, a fairly new pilot who graduated in January from the inaugural F-35 basic flight class. Fantasia and the five other “B-course” graduates are the first pilots trained from the start to be F-35 operators. They didn’t have prior experience in another combat aircraft like an F-22 or F-16.

Now, those pilots get to learn not only from the more knowledgeable F-35 operators based at Hill, but the F-15 pilots of Kadena, whose training consists of tactics and techniques that have been passed down and refined over nearly four decades.

“The training itself, we’re really taking advantage of the joint part of the exercise,” Fantasia said. “So the ability to see everybody’s different capabilities and then ultimately put that into one fluid scenario, it really allows for a lot of successes out there and a lot of chances to learn from each other.”

During his last flight, Fantasia faced off in a one-on-one fight that allowed him to practice basic fighter maneuvers — things like high-G turns, high climbs and high angle-of-attack moves that allow a pilot a more advantageous position when in a close-quarters fight.

Fantasia didn’t say whether he went up against another F-35 or an F-15, but the older fourth-generation jet still can pose a challenge in a dogfight.

The F-15C sustained has a long run as the Air Force’s premier air superiority jet, from the time it was introduced in the 1970s to 2005, when the fifth-gen F-22 was fielded. It’s famed for its incredible aerial combat record, with no losses ever recorded.

The F-35’s record against fourth-generation fighters hasn’t always garnered the jet positive attention. In 2015, War Is Boring obtained a five-page brief authored by an F-35 test pilot, who wrote that the Joint Strike Fighter had been outclassed by the F-16. The pilot dogged the F-35 as too slow and not maneuverable enough to evade the F-16 or to shoot it down, the report stated.

At the time, the Defense Department defended the F-35 by pointing out that the aircraft involved in the test was a very early model with a flight envelope limited to only 5.5 G’s. The jet also did not feature many of the mission systems, stealth coating or helmet display functionality considered by some as the defining features of the F-35, which are now widely available.

In February, the F-35s at Kadena got the latest block 3F software, the full combat capability version that allows the aircraft to fly its entire flight envelope and up to 9 G maneuvers. But even before that, the Joint Strike Fighter’s air-to-air game has shown improvement, achieving a 20-to-1 kill ratio at its first Red Flag event in early 2017.

Capt. Brock McGehee, a pilot from Kadena’s 44th Fighter Squadron who has been flying F-15s for two years, characterized the F-35 as an “extremely capable” air-to-air fighter, during a February interview with Defense News.

“It’s just kind of scary a little bit to fly around in the dark with an invisible airplane that’s around you somewhere,” he said. “Those guys are very good pilots, their situational awareness is very high and they do a good job of keeping us in the loop of where they are when they’re on the same team as us.”

McGehee compared the F-35 to its fifth-generation brother, the F-22 Raptor. Both are stealth aircraft, making them very difficult to detect at long distances. But in close combat, an F-15 will engage an F-22 and F-35 very differently, he said. He declined to discuss specifics that could reveal tactics, techniques and procedures and provide an adversary with hints about how to best either aircraft.

“An F-22, if you’ve ever watched the demo of it, you can turn inside out. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “An F-35, it turns differently. So that’s just [basic fighter maneuver] kind of awareness for us of what to do differently.”

So can the F-15 beat the F-35 in dogfights?

“I mean, sometimes,” McGehee said, adding that all aircraft lose in aerial combat sometimes, and for various reasons.

“Part of it is the aircraft and part of it is the man in the aircraft,” he continued. “We’ve got some really talented pilots here who are able to gain the offensive on a lot of other pilots. A pilot who understands this aircraft very well and is very skilled at it is pretty lethal no matter what he’s flying, so it’s possible.”

I was disappointed by this article by Insinna. For some reason, I expect better from her. As one example, she spends two paragraphs on the 2015 WarisBoring hit piece, yet only one sentence, if that, on the 2017 Red Flag results. Which is more relevant? A 2015 CLAWS test (which she does not even clarify as being a CLAWS test) or 2017 realistic war game results?

I called Insinna out on Twitter recently, asking why she gave POGO the time of day. Her reply was that many people don't know anything about POGO, and her tweet was intended to "educate" people, as it were, that POGO is not all they make themselves out to be. Fair enough I said. Yet here she is spending more words discussing WarIsBoring than recent Red Flags, Green Flags, Northern Lightning exercises, not to mention the results the Marines are seeing from their brand spanking new, wet-behind-the-ears Lightning drivers.

Take an F-16, stir in A-7, dollop of F-117, gob of F-22, dash of F/A-18, sprinkle with AV-8B, stir well + bake. Whaddya get? F-35.